Harper's move slows workplace diversity

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      The House of Commons had a number of unfinished issues that were relegated to the back burner when Prime Minister Stephen Harper decided last month to short-circuit the past session of Parliament.

      One of these was the review of the Employment Equity Act. It seeks to ensure that the federal government, federal Crown corporations, and federally regulated firms with 100 or more workers provide equal employment opportunities to four designated groups: women, aboriginal people, persons with disabilities, and members of visible minorities. It doesn't set hiring quotas.

      According to NDP MP Bill Siksay (Burnaby-Douglas), the standing committee on human-resources development and the status of persons with disabilities was going to review the act this fall. With Harper's call for a new session, which he opened with a speech from the throne on October 16, Siksay told the Georgia Straight that this look at the Employment Equity Act is expected to face delays. He also noted that if there is a new election, the review will be set back even further.

      Other matters, particularly Canada's combat mission in Afghanistan, have received great attention in Ottawa circles. However, Siksay, a former citizenship and immigration critic, noted that the effort to achieve diversity in workplaces to reflect the makeup of Canadian society is also an important issue.

      "I still think we haven't reached the goal," Siksay said. "There has been progress made; there's no doubt about that. It's incremental. We could be doing a better job."

      The Canadian Human Rights Commission administers the Employment Equity Act and conducts regular audits of how it is being implemented. Citing the latest available data in a report last spring, the commission documented that in 2005, persons with disabilities and aboriginal people "benefited the least from employment equity initiatives" in the private sector. It noted that while the share of jobs held by Natives increased from 1.3 percent in 1997 to 1.8 percent in 2005, it was "well below" the 2.6-percent availability of aboriginal people.

      Persons with disabilities held 2.7 percent of jobs in the private sector in 2005, which was slightly higher than the 2.5 percent in the previous year. "Since persons with disabilities receive less than their share of hires in all sectors, the higher representation is likely due to better self-identification among existing employees," the commission stated.

      Margaret Birrell, executive director of the BC Coalition of People With Disabilities, told the Straight that she isn't surprised by how people with disabilities are faring in finding gainful employment.

      "You've got to first of all overcome the attitudinal barriers of employers," Birrell said. "Then if you find an employer, you need accessible transportation. Also the [work] premises have to be accessible too."

      The commission's report also stated that in the private sector, the hiring of members of visible minorities was in keeping with their availability for work.

      Women, for their part, held 43.3 percent of jobs, although census data suggest that they can fill up to 47.3 percent.

      The picture is slightly different in the public sector. Aboriginal people and persons with disabilities were fully represented, according to the report. Women's representation was in accordance with their availability.

      However, members of visible-minority groups–which the law defines as persons other than aboriginal people, not Caucasian in race or nonwhite in colour–"still remain under-represented when compared to their availability in the work force", the report said. "The representation of visible minority members stood at 8.6%, an improvement from the previous year when they held 8.1% of all jobs, but considerably lower than the public sector availability of 10.4%," the document stated.

      Liberal Vancouver Centre MP Hedy Fry told the Straight that her party will push hard for the review. The former secretary of state for multiculturalism and the status of women noted that data clearly show that some groups are being left behind in certain sectors.

      "One needs to do an analysis: why is it that we haven't been able to move significantly with a particular group?" Fry asked. "Why is this group not making it? Is it because the group faces societal and other barriers? Maybe they're not getting access to education, so we can then put in the social structures and public policies that would look at the barriers those groups face that may not be employment only."

      Fry also took shots at Harper's Conservative government, recalling that the former Reform Party in 1995 opposed the Liberal government's move to strengthen the equity law. "We have a party that does not agree with employment equity," she said.

      Eleanor Guerrero-Campbell is a former chair of the City of Vancouver's cultural-communities advisory committee. Now the executive director of the nonprofit Multicultural Helping House Society, Guerrero-Campbell told the Straight that a review of the Employment Equity Act should also include a review of how far members of the four target groups are making inroads in management positions.

      Guerrero-Campbell pointed out that it's one thing for group members to get their foot inside the door, but it's another matter whether or not they are eventually given positions of responsibility. "I know that for women, and especially women in visible minorities, their number in employment has improved but not in the serious management positions," she said. "There is a glass ceiling."

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